Last Battle
by scarlet phlame
Summary: There were the times when Anna went unnoticed, times when she felt like she wasn't there at all. And then there were the times when she actually wasn't there, and they missed her. And then there were the times when they forgot her. ONESHOT


Summary: There were the times when Anna went unnoticed, times when she felt like she wasn't there at all. And then there were the times when she actually wasn't there, and they missed her. And then there were the times when they forgot her.

AN: Yep... I'm supposed to be studying/doing homework/editing my book that I'm trying to get epubbed, but since _TheDarkCommander_ is always complaining about how much he hates Anna... So let's see what the EBF universe would look like without her. (This is an AU... I'll let that fact stitch up any plotholes.)

Enjoy!

* * *

It's snowing.

Clad in a green dress, wielding a fairy bow, Anna steps into the clearing, beads of sweat crystallizing on her forehead, freezing from the cold. From an unknown location, something gives a snarl, and she is _running_, faster than she has ever run in her life, brown boots pummeling the ground as she rockets through the forest.

She gazes up at the sky; the image of a twilight sky, all gossamer and diaphanous, stretching out into eternity, snow bleeding through the clouds. The thing's behind her, now, oozing fury and anger in encroaching waves. She doesn't turn, just freezes where she stands, feels its breath running down her back. It exhales again, and rams her forward, boots delving into the soft forest ground.

It shouldn't be snowing.

She inhales herself, closes her eyes, looks up at the purple sky, and hears a dull thud. Pain erupting at the back of her neck, she crumples onto the ground, scarlet-hued velvet blossoming in the snow.

In front of her is a single snowdrop flower in full bloom.

She closes her eyes.

It's the last thing she ever sees.

* * *

Anna's missing.

Lance hurries them all, forces them up, yells that, hey, hey, Anna's missing. Matt chuckles and makes a dumb comment about how she's always running off. Natz just rolls her eyes, inquires why they even bother with the cantankerous greenhead (or whatever it is people with green hair are called).

Still, they set off, trudging through the forests, hugging pleather and brown for warmth, stopping when tired, mirroring the tracks she left in the snow that, somehow, is no longer falling.

They reach a clearing packed with garlands of snow and that's when they see her.

"Anna? What're you doing?" Matt asks, bored.

Nothing. No response.

"Sleeping?" Natz sighs. "It's so like her to doze off when she's in the middle of a patrol... HEY, SLEEPYHEAD! GET UP! THERE'S A LOT OF STUFF TO SEE WHEN YOUR EYES ARE OPENED!"

Still nothing.

"Anna?" Lance asks.

Snow starts to fall. Drifts into the clearing sporadically. With dusty fingers, Lance bends over and touches Anna's face. Skin.

Cold.

"Cold," he whispers.

Why is she cold? She's never cold.

"Anna?"

There's a heavy silence as they all stand there, recognizing the ramifications of what has just occurred to each of them.

"Don't say it."

Nobody did.

"Okay, funny," Natalie blurts. "Hilarious. Get up, Anna."

Anna doesn't.

Just lies still.

They've never seen Anna this still before.

"I can bring her back," Natalie insists, feels something drip down her cheek. "I can- I'm going to. I just... we have a potion."

Matt crouches down next to Anna. Touches her wrist.

"There's nothing," he whispers. "It's like she was... pulled out of there."

"We've got to do something, guys. I mean, we're supposed to... to fix this," Natz blurts out, tears scalding the back of her eyelids. She sinks onto her knees, palms embracing a pillow of freezing white stuff on the ground. "Fix her," she croaks.

"There's nothing to fix," Matt whispers.

"Why didn't I listen to her?" Lance moans. "Why didn't I go out on patrol last night? I shoul- we should have done-" he covers his face with his hands, mutters something that sounds like, 'not fair' and, falling funny, lands in a cross-legged fold.

"We've got to have something," Natalie insists.

"I should've let her blame me for everything. I should've gone on patrol."

Matt's silent when he leans over and presses her eyes closed.

"She's gone," he says. "Gone. Where did she go?"


End file.
